Currently, the Ukrainian defense tech company Frontline Robotics has over 50 IT specialists on its team. They plan to increase their number by about four times within a year. All candidates undergo a polygraph test and open source intelligence (OSINT) collection.
Currently, the Ukrainian defense tech company Frontline Robotics has over 50 IT specialists on its team. They plan to increase their number by about four times within a year. All candidates undergo a polygraph test and open source intelligence (OSINT) collection.
Over the past year, Frontline Robotics' staff has grown 10-fold. All teams are divided into separate areas, such as production or R&D. The company does not have a clear figure for hiring, as the expansion is ongoing, but there will definitely be a need for new IT specialists.
"We will definitely need to find another 100-200 IT professionals in a year. The main focus is on specialists who have experience working with hardware and Computer Vision," said Yevgeny Tretyak, co-founder and CEO of the company, in an interview with DOU.
In addition, there is a shortage of versatile electronics engineers who can simultaneously design boards and write firmware.
"In large IT companies, these functions are usually separated, but we need a specialist who combines both skills. There were few such people on the market even before the full-scale war, and now most of them are already involved in military companies and work to defend the country. Now we are trying to attract those specialists who are still in ordinary civilian IT," Tretyak adds.
Currently, DOU has 41 open vacancies, including IT / Security Administrator, Technical Support Engineer (Network/Linux), Senior Hardware Engineer (UAV), etc. The full list can be found at the link .
Typically, candidates go through two stages. First, they meet with a recruiter, and then there is a technical interview, where technical specialists and their managers are present. If everything goes well, the registration process begins: checks, documents, military registration — all the formalities.
“We have a polygraph and an open source OSINT check. This is our base for everyone without exception: regardless of whether you are going to write software, assemble a product, or work as a loader or driver. Some people don’t like this approach, but I believe that this should be treated with understanding. The check is done primarily for the safety of each team member. When you arrive at the location, you must be sure that the person next to you is not writing your coordinates in Telegram. We want everyone to be safe, so we check people. Of course, this does not give a 100% guarantee, but we try to do our best,” explains the CEO of Frontline Robotics.
Sometimes a company changes its approach when a great candidate comes along. The interview with the recruiter is skipped or postponed to speed up the process, and the hiring manager goes for the interview right away.
Also, sometimes there is a hunt for specialists.
"The market is small, specialists move from company to company. I personally participated in one such interview when we were looking for a manager for a position. The candidate already worked at Miltech, but was open to offers - a mutual acquaintance introduced us. We did not agree then, and he eventually moved to another team, not to us. I think our specialists are also often tried to be poached, because this is natural for the market. As far as I know, two great specialists recently left us for other companies. This is unpleasant, because it is always great to work with people who know how to do their job. But it is not so unpleasant if they went to civilian IT. We understand that they continue to work for our common goal, just in a different place," Tretyak noted.
Recall that in December, Frontline Robotics and the German-Ukrainian UAV manufacturer Quantum Systems deepened their cooperation and created the joint venture Quantum Frontline Industries.
